Should I Edit Listing Description, categories etc or Leave if It Is Ranking Well?

I have realized that several of my client's listings need to be updated to be in line with "best practice" ie; not putting location in description. Another example would be a client who created several of his own categories....HOWEVER, 1) if a listing is ranking well, is it best to just leave it alone? 2) If listing is merged & verified, please confirm it should be updated in G+ and not the dashboard. Just seems like sometimes the more you mess around in there the worse things get....

Re: Should I Edit Listing Description, categories etc or Leave if It Is Ranking Well

I agree that literally any time you touch a listing you risk something going wrong. So often say "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". HOWEVER if there is a guideline violation OR name or address are actually wrong (not talking formatting like Street vs St) but missing suite or KW added to name then its' broke and you MUST fix it.

A lot of listings seem to rank fine with city in description. I warn against it because I've seen ranking penalties BUT it's not against the guidelines and does not always drop ranking - so that one I think should be a matter of "if it aint broke, don't fix it." Now if city is in there twice, then I think I would edit. Just once and if they are ranking fine, I'd leave it.

With cats it's tricky if it's a merged page. Because you are right you should NOT edit in dash after merging. AND cats are much more limited in G+. AND I'm not sure how it works if 5 cats were in dash, then you change them in G+. Not sure if it overwrites the Places cats or how that works.

But again depends. IF the cats violate the is not does rule or are overly spammy and repetitive you maybe should try to edit. But again G+ cats are much more limited/restictive and I'm not certain what happens when you edit them. If it overwrites one of your Places cats or just adds another.

Linda Buquet .:. Forum Founder, Google Local Specialist

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